Latest posts
EU-27: neither hell nor heaven
Does Ode to Joy still echo from Tallinn to Sofia? But maybe the right question should be: has it ever done so since the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to Eastern Europe? Except among the elites, enthusiasm for the 2004 and 2007 enlargements w...
1989-2009: twenty years after in Poland
As everyone knows, the fall of the Berlin Wall took place 20 years ago. To mark this occasion, a group of Polish students visited the “Institute for European Studies/Institut d’études européennes” in Brussels last November to relate their per...
The other side of the coin
There is a Swedish expression that goes “down on the Continent”. This feeling of “us and them” lies at the heart of the apparent concern currently being felt in Sweden about the euro.
Strangers in the night of Brussels - Who are the European Commissioners exactly?
Most citizens can name the Prime Minister of their country, perhaps a few more ministers too. But how many citizens of the European Union can name the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, let alone any of the 26 Commissioners th...
"Any new political project needs constructive criticism"
Being a former eurosceptic who became pro-EU, Nosemonkey's EUtopia blogger James Clive-Matthews agreed in giving us his opinion on Euroscepticism. He is still critical about the EU but not anymore in the same way Eurosceptics are.
The multiple faces of Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism, i.e. criticism, doubt and opposition towards the European Union, has attracted much attention over the last decade. At each election for the European Parliament there are worries about the potential rise of so-called eurosceptic polit...
Shifting with...Rudy Leonet and the Festivals Invaders
Back to Belgium for this eleventh issue where we met Rudy Léonet, director of Pure FM, the French speaking public radio station dedicated to pop, rock and electro music. With its radio program Festivals Invasion it has become the right frequency to...
Book review - Words of warm summer nights and days
Summer is the perfect time for travel, even if only through the pages of a book, or for that matter with a colony of cricketplaying penguins for company. SHIFt MAg has hand-picked for you: Penguins Stopped Play: Eleven Village cricketers take on the...
Entropa: sense of humour or national pride?
On 1 July 2009, Sweden took over the EU presidency and, like all previous presiding countries, set up a new exhibition inside the Council building in Brussels. If we were to ask Europeans, or even Brussels bureaucrats, they would certainly not know w...
"A clown has a kind of positive power, to make other people laugh" - Interview of David Larible
Shift Mag interviewed internationally renowned clown David Larible, about his views on humour and its differences across the world.
In quest of concrete
Laughter and happiness are emotions that people hold dear. They are undoubtedly the two things that people seek most throughout their lives, but also the two things that terrify them the most as well. For a simple reason: they are irrational and elus...
Fine-honed irony breaking the thickest Swedish ice
Is there such a thing as a Swedish humour? The question, a French radio talk show asked me recently, intrigued me. Especially since the residents of my old country of “adoption”, France, often consider us Nordics stiff, serious and… yes, darn r...
Stereotypes and identities in modern Europe: will the jigsaw fall into place?
Due to the expansion of mobility worldwide practically all professions and affiliations are affected by intercultural experience and international influence.Recent technological achievements have further facilitated our access to world-wide informati...
Reservoir Blogs: Zebra and heaven
Welcome to Reservoir Blogs – Europe's weirdest blog review, gathering all the strangest titbits found on the euroblogosphere just for you. In this issue, Mr Shift will whip out his finger and apply it to blogs in order to squeeze out the juiciest a...
Carte Blanche to "Les Euros du village": Power Vacuums
During August, while the corridors of the Council and the European Parliament were silent and virtually everyone from the Brussels European affairs village had headed off on a long summer break, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso was still working hard at his...
Drawing board
Among other novelties SHIFt Mag has decided to make way for cartoons opening to young artists the possibility of sharing their views on Europe.
Europe accros the world - Learning English at all costs
An article dedicated to the role of the language of Shakespeare in social mobility in emerging countries. India as an example. The sun never set on the British empire and the same privilege is enjoyed by their language in today’s world. English, th...
The Clash: Barroso, should he stay or should he go?
Will Jose Manuel Barroso be re-elected as head of the European Commission? Some months ago this issue was not even up for prior debate and very much seen as a done deal. But then the European Parliament (EP) delayed its vote and the summer suddenly m...
